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How to Do Proper Ecommerce Keyword Research (A Complete Guide for Business Owners)
If you run an online store, you have probably typed this question into Google: how do I actually find the right keywords for my products? This is the most common question I hear from business owners, and today I am going to answer it properly – even if you are a complete beginner to SEO. Once you understand how to do proper ecommerce keyword research, you will see why it is one of the most important parts of growing an ecommerce store, generating consistent leads, and closing more sales.
I am not just going to give you theory. I will walk you through the exact process I use with my own clients, the tools I rely on, the mistakes business owners make, and a few real case studies that show how this works in practice.
Why Ecommerce Keyword Research Actually Matters
Before we get into the “how,” let’s talk about the “why.” Most business owners assume that keyword research is just about picking a few popular search terms and stuffing them onto a product page. That is not how to do proper ecommerce keyword research. Real keyword research is about understanding what your customer is actually searching for, at what stage of the buying journey they are in, and how much competition stands between you and page one of Google.
Get this right, and your store shows up exactly when someone is ready to buy. Get it wrong, and you are stuck writing content and running ads that nobody sees which is exactly why how to do proper ecommerce keyword research is the first skill I teach every new client.
Step 1: Understand Your Niche Before You Touch a Single Tool
The first and most important step is understanding your niche in detail. Let’s say you sell soap that’s not specific enough. Do you sell goat milk soap, body wash, handmade bar soap, or organic skincare soap? Every niche has dozens of sub-categories, and you need to go deep into your own products before you even open a keyword tool.
You also need to know where you are selling – across the whole of the USA, only a few states, the UK, or Mexico. Your keyword strategy changes depending on your market, so this step cannot be skipped if you want to learn how to do proper ecommerce keyword research the right way.
Step 2: Use the Right Tools for Ecommerce Keyword Research
Once I understand a client’s niche and target market, I open a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs. I go into the Keyword Explorer (or “Keyword Magic Tool” in SEMrush), select the target country, and search my seed keyword for example, “goat milk soap.”
The tool returns a large list of keywords, some relevant and some not. Sorting through them is part of the job. I look at two numbers above everything else:
- Keyword Difficulty (KD) β I prioritize keywords under 15 KD, especially early on.
- Search Volume β this matters less than people think. A keyword with 10,000 searches a month and one with only 10 searches a month can both be valuable. Never rely on search volume alone when deciding whether a keyword is worth targeting.
This is a step-by-step lesson I have learned through real client work, and it consistently produces good results. If you only remember one part of how to do proper ecommerce keyword research, remember this: difficulty and intent matter far more than raw volume.
Step 3: Focus on Transactional and Comparison Keywords First
Once I have a working list, I sort keywords into intent categories, and I always prioritize transactional and comparison keywords first, because these are the ones that bring in sales. From there, I try to dominate a small, focused topic (a micro-niche) before expanding outward to the next one.
I also build out informational keywords to bring in early-stage traffic, and commercial keywords to help customers compare and choose the right product. This full-funnel approach is central to how to do proper ecommerce keyword research in a way that actually grows a business, not just traffic numbers. It’s also the part most beginners skip when they first try to learn how to do proper ecommerce keyword research on their own.
How to Rank in Google Shopping With the Right Keywords
A lot of business owners forget that keyword research doesn’t stop at blog posts and product pages. If you want to know how to rank in Google Shopping, the same principles apply: your product titles, descriptions, and feed attributes need the transactional and comparison keywords customers actually search for, not just your internal inventory names. Getting this right is often the difference between a listing that gets clicks and one buried on page three.
Manual Keyword Research: The Method I Use Personally
I don’t rely only on tools. One of my favorite manual techniques is finding a direct competitor in the same niche and going through their blog to see which pages get high traffic with low difficulty, building a list of those keywords, and reworking the content in a better, more helpful way.
You can also plug a competitor’s site into SEMrush and check their Top Pages report to see which keywords drive their traffic and how difficult each one is. As a rule of thumb, I target competitors with a Domain Authority under 30 – those sites are far easier to outrank than ones above 50+. None of this comes from a course; it comes from years of hands-on research in my own field, which is SEO.
Why Working With an Expert Matters
This is exactly why seo consulting for ecommerce exists as a service in the first place – most business owners simply don’t have the time to run this process for every product category, every month, on top of running the rest of their business. Bringing in seo consulting for ecommerce means someone is tracking keyword difficulty, search intent, and competitor movement while you focus on operations, fulfillment, and customer service.
If you are comparing SEO companies for small business, look for one that can show you their actual process, not just a promise of “page one rankings.” The best SEO companies for small business will walk you through their keyword research method the same way I just walked you through mine.
Common Mistakes Business Owners Make
- Chasing high search volume keywords with no chance of ranking
- Ignoring keyword difficulty completely
- Copying competitor keywords without checking relevance
- Skipping on-page optimization after the keywords are chosen
- Treating SEO for E-commerce as a one-time task instead of an ongoing process
This last point is worth repeating: keyword research is never “done.” It’s revisited constantly as your catalog and market shift. Avoiding these mistakes is a big part of how to do proper ecommerce keyword research consistently, month after month which is exactly why many SEO companies for small business exist in the first place.
On-Page Optimization: The Other Half of the Equation
Keyword research alone will not rank your store. I always review the full website UI, design, and technical SEO before finalizing a strategy. This is where expert on-page SEO services come in, covering title tags, header structure, internal linking, page speed, and structured data. All of which determine whether the keywords you found actually convert into rankings and sales.
An experienced E-commerce SEO consultant will treat keyword research and on-page optimization as one connected process, not two separate jobs. When you hire an E-commerce SEO consultant, you should expect both someone who finds the right keywords and someone who knows how to place them correctly across your store. This combination is what makes the difference between knowing how to do proper ecommerce keyword research in theory and seeing it move the needle in your rankings. It’s why expert on-page SEO services and a good E-commerce SEO consultant work best as a team, and why so many stores hire expert on-page SEO services alongside their content strategy rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Real Case Studies From My Own Client Work
I have applied this exact process with real clients, and the case studies speak for themselves: stores that started with low-competition, high-intent keywords consistently saw faster ranking improvements than stores chasing broad, high-volume terms. These case studies are proof that a disciplined, niche-first approach to keyword research outperforms guesswork almost every time, and they show exactly why learning how to do proper ecommerce keyword research pays off in real revenue, not just traffic charts.
Note: Want to learn more? Explore our SEO for E-commerce blog category for expert tips, guides, and proven strategies.
Choosing the Right E-commerce SEO Services
Whether you handle this in-house or bring in outside help, the goal is the same: build a repeatable system. Good E-commerce SEO services should include keyword research, on-page optimization, and ongoing tracking as your store grows. If a provider offering E-commerce SEO services can’t explain their keyword process clearly, that’s a red flag worth paying attention to.
Conclusion
Learning how to do proper ecommerce keyword research is not about memorizing a checklist, it’s about understanding your niche deeply, using the right tools with the right filters, and combining data with manual research and real experience. Whether you handle this yourself or bring in seo consulting for ecommerce to guide you, the fundamentals stay the same: know your product, know your market, prioritize intent over volume, and treat keyword research as an ongoing part of running your store, not a one-time task.
If you take one thing away from this guide, let it be this: how to do proper ecommerce keyword research starts with you understanding your own business better than any tool ever will.
About Rank Myths
Rank Myths is a results-driven Affordable SEO Services agency helping businesses around the world cut through the noise and dominate search rankings – no myths, no guesswork, just proven strategies. Whether you are a startup or an established enterprise, Rank Myths delivers transparent, data-backed SEO solutions that drive real traffic, real leads, and real revenue. From on-page optimization to global search strategies, the team at Rank Myths is dedicated to turning your online presence into your most powerful sales tool.
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